Priti Patel pays tribute to the victims of terrorism

'This is not a three-month virus'

Sir Patrick Valance says the UK will require some form of social distancing over a long period.

17:24Lottie Gibbons

Wedding update

Asked about weddings, Mrs Patel said they are not encouraging gatherings at the moment, but they want to get people meeting like they would normally do .

Any decisions to relax will be based on science.

17:18Lottie Gibbons

Passenger arrivals have been down 99%

Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was imposing quarantine plans for new arrivals at the time "it will be the most effective".She told the daily Downing Street press conference: "The answer as to why we're bringing in these measures now is simple: It is to protect that hard-won progress and prevent a devastating resurgence in a second wave of the virus."As we are taking this action, we are taking it at a time that it will be the most effective."She said that passenger arrivals have been down 99% compared to the previous year but now the peak has passed, steps to "guard against imported cases" must be imposed.

17:10Lottie Gibbons

Director General Paul Lincoln now speaking

The Border Force director general is discussing the changes made in airports to keep the country safe.

17:09Lottie Gibbons

Quarantine fines

Breaches of two-week quarantines would be punishable with a £1,000 fixed penalty notice in England, or prosecution with an unlimited fine, while devolved nations can set out their own enforcement approaches.

17:07Lottie Gibbons

Latest figures

The Home Secretary said a further 351 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus since yesterday - a total of 36,393 overall.

9,307 people are currently in hospital with the virus.

Mrs Patel says a total of 3,231,921 tests have been carried out so far.

17:06Lottie Gibbons

Two-week quarantines will be imposed

Two-week quarantines will be imposed on new arrivals to the UK from June 8, with fines for anyone who breaches the measure to prevent new waves of coronavirus from overseas.

Home Secretary Priti Patel announced on Friday that mandatory self-isolation would not apply to people coming from Ireland, medics tackling Covid-19 and seasonal agricultural workers.

Next phase of vaccine testing to focus on immune response in older adults

The next phase of coronavirus vaccine testing will focus on the immune response in older adults, the director of the Oxford University vaccine group said.

Professor Andrew Pollard told BBC Breakfast on Friday the first phase of the testing looked at the vaccine’s safety in people aged under 55.

Speaking about the next steps in the trials, he said: “Now we are looking at whether older adults have a similar immune response, then looking at those in the front line.

“There are two groups, the first are those over the age of 55, and they are divided into those being 55 and 70, and those who are over 70.

“And in that group we are looking very closely at immune responses, particularly in the oldest adults where often immune responses are a bit weaker (than) in younger adults.”

He said a second group of 10,000 frontline workers will also participate in the study.

Asked who should come forward to take part, Prof Pollard said “very healthy individuals” will be initially selected.

07:14Jess Flaherty

Monthly retail sales fell 18% last month

The proportion spent online soared to the highest on record in April 2020 at 30.7%, which compares with the 19.1% reported in April 2019.The Office for National Statistics has revealed the volume of retail sales in April 2020 fell by a record 18.1%, following the strong monthly fall of 5.2% in March 2020.

But online sales were up 30%.

The proportion spent online is the highest on record in April 2020 at 30.7%, which compares with the 19.1% reported in April 2019.

16:48

Coronavirus daily death rate

Health authorities confirmed on Thursday were 187 deaths in England, nine in Wales and 37 in Scotland linked to the virus.

After several days of recording no new coronavirus deaths, the St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust recorded three new fatalities in its latest update.

This will undoubtedly raise questions about whether the country should move in lockstep or follow regional leadership on easing the lockdown.

16:46

Latest rules for lockdown

Scotland has now also announced the lockdown is being eased, but the rules are a little different to here in Merseyside.

In England, lockdown is being eased in three steps with specific dates, starting with outdoor activity, then non-essential shops and schools in June and finally other shops, hospitality and places of worship or cinemas in July.

Scotland hasn’t set such a clear timetable for these things reopening and schools won’t go back until after the summer break.

There are also different rules about who you can meet. In England, you can meet one person from one other household outdoors.

In Scotland, from May 28, two households can meet outdoors.

16:41

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